Myths & Legends of Australia by A. W. Reed

Myths & Legends of Australia

by A. W. Reed

Illustrated by Roger Hart

A. H. & A. W. Reed, 1965, [First Edition], black and white line drawings in text, hardcover, dustjacket

Good Condition, some edge and shelf wear, some rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, ex-library with stamps and foxing to front and back endpapers, stickers to back endpapers, tape residue to covers and introductory pages, dusty fore edges, blue ink scribble to bottom fore edge, dustjacket shows edge and shelf wear with some rubbing, bumping, chipping and discolouration, re-enforced with tape (see photographs)

“Few primitive peoples can claim as rich a heritage of myth and legend as the Aborigines of Australia.  As they observed the mysteries of sun and stars, bird and animal, man and woman, life and death, they wove a magic fabric in their explanation.
Some of their myths and legends seek to describe the world’s creation.  Some celebrate heroic feats of strength, audacity, or cunning.  Some are told to send a grue of terror around the campfire.  Others are explosively, earthily comic.  The Aborigines’ fantasy-word was in-exhaustibly bright and varied…
From this fascinating material A. W. Reed has selected fifty-five tales, grouped under six main classifications each story a classic of the aboriginal story-teller’s repertoire.  He re-tells them simply and without the distortions of European dramatization, so that the authentic strength and colour of the original myth or legend can be seen “as it was int eh beginning”.
These stories are integral to the foundations of the Australia of today.  In this book they are worthily presented.”